


Unseen Hero

by Talvin



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-01
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:20:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23232340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talvin/pseuds/Talvin
Summary: Sabrina still feels invisible.  But some Heroes are never seen until they are needed.
Relationships: Roger Raincomprix & Sabrina Raincomprix
Comments: 4
Kudos: 62
Collections: THEME:  Hero





	Unseen Hero

Roger came in the door of their flat and hung up his jacket. It had been a long watch down at the precinct, and he was  _ tired. _ “Sabrina! I’m home!”

“OK, Dad.”

That did not sound like a happy teenager. That didn’t even sound like an  _ un _ happy teenager. That sounded so flat and unaffected that it set off alarm bells in Roger’s brain. Stepping into the kitchen, he found his daughter sitting with her head in her hands, looking glum. “What’s wrong,  ma lumière ?”

“Everyone around me is some kind of hero or famous person, and I’m just...Sabrina.”

He pulled out the stool next to her and sat down, draping an arm over her shoulders. “Your class does have a lot of heavy hitters, doesn’t it? There’s Chloe, of course, and that Agreste boy….”

“Marinette designs things for  _ Jagged Stone, _ Papa. I see him when I go over to hang out with Chloe, and he can’t even remember my name. Rose is friends with Prince Ali. Alya is the  _ Ladyblogger. _ Nino is getting to be pretty well known as a DJ. Marc and Nathaniel’s comic is going big. Chloe...she’s not just the Mayor’s Daughter, she gets a  _ Miraculous. _ Lila knows  _ lots _ of famous people. Some guy feeds pigeons and is on the evening news for putting you in a cage. I can’t even get famous for being  _ akumatized. _ ”

He gave her shoulder a squeeze. “Ladybug knows you, and not just as an akuma. She asked how you were doing today. After that business with the barber, the butterfly, and all the shaving cream down at City Hall.” This startled a giggle out of Sabrina. “Yeah, some things you just don’t  _ want _ to be famous for. All this over an expired business license.”

Sabrina murmured, “Ladybug remembers me. That’s nice. I didn’t think she would.” 

Roger stood and went around the counter to start making supper. “It’s a funny thing about Heroes: most of them never set out to be famous. Most of them don’t get any fame at all, or at most a few minutes. Ladybug and Chat Noir and, yes, Queen B get a lot of news coverage, but what about the mail carrier who kept going even as Stormy Weather was turning this town into a disaster? Or the bus driver who got her passengers to safety? Heroes. Heroes are people who do what needs to be done, even though they are scared, even though they know it might not be enough. Like that guy that climbed the building to rescue the kid hanging from a balcony: he hadn’t been in France very long, he didn’t even have a job, and suddenly he is climbing a building. No suit, no Miraculous, no powers, if he hits the ground no ‘Lucky Charm’ is going to save him. That’s a Hero. And, according to Ladybug, so is your Dad.”

Sabrina blinked at him, looking like a little owl behind her glasses. “You? Uh, I mean…”

Roger laughed, “It’s OK, punkin. Yeah, Ladybug says that if you do the math, I am a hundred times the hero she is.”

“The math,” as she pushed her glasses back up onto her face. “OK, what is the math?”

“I was...well, I was saying much the same as you, really. So she asked me how many crimes I stopped in a month. I told her. She pointed out how many akumas she stopped in a month--more dangerous, but far fewer. She asked if my uniform could let me jump off the Eiffel Tower and live. No, it won’t. She asked if there was something that would bring me back to life if I got shot or stabbed. Well, no. She says that means I am a hundred times the hero she is, because when she finishes a case, she gets to put everything back the way it was, while I have to live with the consequences for the rest of my life.” Seeing that the oil was hot, he started adding things to the skillet. “I don’t get a big balloon, or a fanclub, or anything like that...and that’s OK. Ladybug is right: real Heroes don’t  _ need _ all that. They don’t do it for the fame, they do it because it is the right thing.”

Sabrina flushed, looking down, “I never thought about it like that, Papa. I guess Chloe has me thinking it’s all about being seen.”

“Most Heroes are never seen, sweetie, not really. Now, how about you get out the plates?”

\---

The lights kept flickering on and off. The Metro train had lurched, sending some people to the floor, and then ground to a halt with a sickening screech. For the last few minutes the lights had been flickering, and no one could get a signal on their cellphones. Finally, a woman dove for the doors. 

“We have to get out of here! They have forgotten about us!” She started trying to pull the doors open.

“WAIT!”

Sabrina had just been sitting, wide-eyed, waiting for someone to come rescue them. Now she forced herself between the woman and the train door. “ **Listen to me.** My father is a police officer! He is not going to leave me, or any of us, stuck down here! He told me exactly what to do in a situation like this! The power is still on some of the time, so we have to stay  _ In. The. Train. _ If you touch the Third Rail, or any piece of metal touching it, you will  _ die.  _ In here we are safe. Will someone please help this lady back to her seat?”

An older man took the lady by the arm and guided her away, murmuring reassurances. Sabrina straightened up, “Now, is anyone hurt? Check the people around you! You! I recognize you from  _ Le Grand Paris _ . I want you to go up and check on the driver, we should have heard from him by now.” 

In a crisis, people will listen to someone who sounds confident and assured, even if it is a fourteen-year-old girl with big glasses. People started checking on each other. The driver had hit his head, but wasn’t too bad off, and he had already radioed in their situation. The lights finally went off for good, but by then enough emergency flashlights and cell phone lights had been turned on that no one else panicked.

They were all startled when a black baton forced the train doors open. There was Chat Noir, flanked by members of the Paris Fire Brigade. “Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen! No akuma today, but when I heard that a train had derailed, I offered my services! Now, please come out one at a time, these gentlemen will assist you, and I will lead the way to the emergency exit!” One by one, the people were helped down into the tunnel, and medics boarded to assist those who had been injured--none too badly, thank goodness. The rest were led single-file down to where a blue light marked stairs to the surface. 

Once they were outside, they found Ladybug talking to the police. One of the women from the train ran over to her, “Ladybug! There is someone you should know about!” 

Ignored, now, Sabrina found a spot to sit and pulled out her phone, texting Chloe to let her know what happened.

“Sabrina Raincomprix!”

She looked up to find Ladybug smiling down at her, flanked by her Papa in his police uniform. Uncertain, she stood.

“Sabrina Raincomprix, I have not come to offer you a Miraculous. Clearly, you do not need one. Today you  _ were _ Miraculous. Had anyone left that train before they got the power cut off, I am told, they would likely have been electrocuted.”

“Today you are a Hero.”


End file.
